West

These are Gender Checks of two news sites from the West — The Seattle Times and the Seattle P-I.

Gender check: 3/29/11 – West

Jasmine R. LinabaryLeave a comment

*Gender Checks are quick examinations of gender representation in individual news articles for the purpose of discovering trends over time. Click here to read more.

Website: Seattle Times

On the Seattle Times, one of the lead articles featured on the home page as of 1 p.m. (MST) Tuesday, March 29, was titled “Seattle area sees fewer apartment vacancies, higher rents.” Its subject was the details of two recent report that showed that the number of apartment vacancies was declining while rent prices have been going up.

Here is its gender breakdown:

–Author: Male

–Human sources  (listed in order mentioned):

1. Male, with one of the research firms that did report

2. Male, president of other apartment research firm

3. Male, owner of real estate business

4. Female, spokeswoman for a developer (Not named)

5. Male, president of developer

Notes/analysis: It’s interesting to note that the only woman mentioned between the two articles in this week’s Gender Check is not identified by name.


Website: Seattle P-I

On the Seattle P-I, one of the lead articles featured on the home page as of 1 p.m. (MST) Tuesday, March 29, was titled “FBI: Seattle speakeasy ring leader smuggled guns to Mexican rebels.” Its subject was a man who was a leader of a Seattle gambling ring that was not charged along with his confederates. He had as it turned out already been convicted for federal charges from selling cocaine to an undercover police officer and smuggling guns to rebels in southern Mexico.

Here is its gender breakdown:

–Author: Male

–Human sources  (listed in order mentioned):

1. Male, vice unit sergeant

2. Male, special agent

3. Male, defense attorney

4. Male, U.S. district court judge

Notes/analysis: All of the individuals mentioned in this article were male.

Gender check: 3/22/11 – West

Jasmine R. LinabaryLeave a comment

*Gender Checks are quick examinations of gender representation in individual news articles for the purpose of discovering trends over time. Click here to read more.

Website: Seattle Times

On the Seattle Times, one of the lead articles featured on the home page as of 5:15 p.m. (MST) March 22, was titled “City suspends DUI cases while police investigate rubber-stamping of arrests.” Its subject was an investigation into the process of DUI cases at the city police department.

Here is its gender breakdown:

–Author: Two males, one female

–Human sources  (listed in order mentioned):

1. Male, city attorney

2. Male, head of police union

3. Female, spokeswoman for city attorney’s office

4. Male, police department spokesman

5. Male, spokesman for county attorney’s office

6. Male, sergeant with county sheriff’s office

7. Female, spokeswoman for state patrol

Notes/analysis: The article also contained quotes from written statements.


Website: Seattle P-I

On the Seattle P-I, one of the lead articles featured on the home page as of 5:15 p.m. (MST) on March 22, was titled “Kentlake teacher accused of having sex with 17-year-old student, charged with sexual misconduct.” Its subject was a female high school teacher charged with having sex with a male student.

Here is its gender breakdown:

–Author: Male

–Human sources  (listed in order mentioned):

1. Female, suspect (according to the charging documents)

2. Female, detective

3. Male, senior deputy prosecutor

Notes/analysis: Other than the boy, the only other additional subject mentioned was his mother.

Gender check: 3/15/11 – West

Jasmine R. LinabaryLeave a comment

*Gender Checks are quick examinations of gender representation in individual news articles for the purpose of discovering trends over time. Click here to read more.

Website: Seattle Times

On the Seattle Times, one of the lead articles featured on the home page as of 3 p.m. (MST) Tuesday, March 15, was titled “Prosecutors to seek death penalty in corrections officer’s slaying.” Its subject was prosecutors announcing they would be requesting the death penalty in the case of a male inmate who strangled to death a female correctional officer.

Here is its gender breakdown:

–Author: Male

–Human sources  (listed in order mentioned):

1. Male, prosecuting attorney

2. Male, superintendent of the corrections facility

3. Male, suspect and inmate (according to probable cause statement)

Notes/analysis: There is one photo with the story. It features four males. This case has been one that’s cropped up before during an earlier Gender Check post in February. That lengthier article on the concerns for correctional officers had more balance in its sources with five females out of 12 sources. The article was also had a shared byline by both a male and a female writer.


Website: Seattle P-I

On the Seattle P-I, one of the lead articles featured on the home page as of 3 p.m. (MST) Tuesday, March 15, was titled “Charge: Seattle-area conman nets $2.3 mil in inheritance scheme.” Its subject was a man being charged with four counts of first-degree theft for conning $2.3 million from a business man as well as roughly $171,000 from a second man.

Here is its gender breakdown:

–Author: Male

–Human sources  (listed in order mentioned):

1. Male, detective

Gender check: 3/8/11 – West

Jasmine R. LinabaryLeave a comment

*Gender Checks are quick examinations of gender representation in individual news articles for the purpose of discovering trends over time. Click here to read more.

Website: Seattle Times

On the Seattle Times, one of the lead articles featured on the home page as of 2:15 p.m. (MST) Tuesday, March 8, was titled “UW basketball standout Overton charged with furnishing alcohol to minor.” Its subject was a University of Washington basketball player who is facing a misdemeanor charge for allegedly provided alcohol to two teenage girls. He also, according to a police report, had sex with both of them but is not facing charges related to those allegations.

Here is its gender breakdown:

–Author: Female

–Human sources  (listed in order mentioned):

1. Male, detective (in a report)

2. Female, deputy prosecutor (in a memo)

Notes/analysis: I think the explanation of the alleged sex part of the story is particularly noteworthy. The girls were both 16, which is the legal age of consent in Washington. One of the girls said “she felt like she had to have sex with (the player) because of who he was.” Regarding the decision not to press charges related to one of the girl’s claims of being coerced into the sex act, the deputy prosecutor said state law “places the burden on the victim to clearly communicate a lack of consent to the suspect, which she did not do so,” according to witness statements, including the basketball player in question. The deputy prosecutor calls the case “highly problematic” because the girls participated in the sex under “situational pressure.”


Website: Seattle P-I

On the Seattle P-I, one of the lead articles featured on the home page as of 2:15 p.m. (MST) Tuesday, March 8, was titled “Solved: Guilty plea in slaying of Seattle gang leader.” Its subject was a guilty plea by the male suspect in a 2007 gang-related killing (of a male) on the eve of the trial.

Here is its gender breakdown:

–Author: Male

–Human sources  (listed in order mentioned):

1. Male, defense attorney

2. Male, victim (according to witness)

3. Male, co-defendant (when speaking to investigators)

4. Male, senior deputy prosecutor

5. Male, detective (quotes from video)

Gender check: 3/1/11 – West

Jasmine R. LinabaryLeave a comment

*Gender Checks are quick examinations of gender representation in individual news articles for the purpose of discovering trends over time. Click here to read more.

Website: Seattle Times

On the Seattle Times, one of the lead articles featured on the home page as of 2:30 p.m. (MST) Tuesday, March 1, was titled “State’s monthly job results good, as unemployment drops.” Its subject was the drop in unemployment and strongest monthly job picture in three years.

Here is its gender breakdown:

–Author: Male

–Human sources  (listed in order mentioned):

1. Male, chief economist

2. Male, spokesman

Notes/analysis: The article was mostly recently released numbers from the Employment Security Department.


Website: Seattle P-I

On the Seattle P-I, one of the lead articles featured on the home page as of 2:30 p.m. (MST) Tuesday, March 1, was titled “Report: Early warnings kept from Seattle School Board.” Its subject was a look at who had knowledge of a report that warned of a billing scandal in a small business contracting program for the school district based on information revealed through internal documents that were recently released.

Here is its gender breakdown:

–Author: Male

–Human sources  (listed in order mentioned):

1. Male, former director of facilities (from note)

2. Female, former prosecutor (from report she prepared)

3. Male, accountant

4. Male, former employee, subject of issue (in e-mail)

Notes/analysis: Most sources were referenced from documents they had written that were recently released such as a report, e-mails and notes. At the center of the issue are a male employee and a male supervisor of that employee. Also now in question is the female schools superintendent.